“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

A few years ago, I was sitting in on a Sunday School class that my brother, Bob was teaching on this very verse, found in Luke 12 in the Bible. He challenged me and the rest of those attending about the costs of being a Christian…..criticism, rejection, ridicule, pressure, loneliness and for some, even their lives. Bob shared stories about pastors and missionaries from other times who counted the cost and yet, served willingly and well.

Amy Carmichael lived from 1867 - 1951 in Japan and Sri Lanka and India. She left her home in England at the age of 18 and never returned. Little did she know - as she leaned against the deck rail of the ship, Valetta - that she would spend the remainder of her eighty-three years as a missionary overseas. In the early 1900’s, Amy experienced a life-altering event that rooted her to Asia for life. A friend “delivered” a 7 year old child to Amy. The little girl’s name was Preena. Preena had been dropped off at a Hindu temple by her mother as a devotion to the gods. Somehow Preena escaped and Amy learned first hand about the life the young girls endured at the temple - prostitution and abuse - and she became “ammal” (mother) to four more orphans. By 1926, Amy had adopted between 70 and 80 young girls and boys who became her family. After an accident left her bedridden in 1931 - Amy lived twenty more years writing books, songs, poems and letters of encouragement. Remarkable.

Ida Scudder lived from 1870 - 1960 and even though she was born in India to missionary parents, she had no plans for foreign ministry. She had plans for marriage, a family and a comfortable life in the USA. After completing high school and college in the US - Ida received a cable from her father (from India) to inform her that her mother was gravely ill. Ida left for India immediately. Her mother recovered but instead of returning to the US, Ida found herself teaching at a school for young girls. Three knocks at her door one evening changed her life. Three Indian men - at three different intervals - pleaded with her to help with their wives - who were in labour and in trouble. She volunteered her father, who was a skilled doctor, to go and help but all three men refused her father’s help. Ida, herself, had no medical skills. The next morning, she heard the somber beat of the drums announcing three deaths in the village. She was overwhelmed with anguish that the three women who died had no one to help them, simply because their culture prohibited contact with men. Ida returned to the States to enrol in medical school. In the early 1900’s, she was back in India and founded a forty-bed hospital which has grown into a 2,600- bed teaching hospital that treats 1.9 million outpatients and 120,000 inpatients annually. As a young girl, Ida declared she would never return to India. Instead, she served there more than 60 years until the day she died.

These two women are examples of thousands upon thousands who have given their lives to serve Christ as missionaries and pastors full-time - all around the world.

There is a story of an African man who lived maybe a century ago. He knew he was going to be martyred because of his faith and following his death, the following letter was found in his house. He wrote what is now called the creed of the Fellowship of the Unashamed.

This is a kind of creed for those of us who have found our spiritual feet and have chosen to walk in the Spirit. It inspires a kind of boldness that sometimes is lacking in our culture but is sorely needed.

I’M PART OF THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE UNASHAMED.

THE DIE HAS BEEN CAST. I HAVE STEPPED OVER THE LINE. THE DECISION HAS BEEN MADE. I’M A DISCIPLE OF HIS AND I WON’T LOOK BACK, LET UP, SLOW DOWN, BACK AWAY OR BE STILL.

MY PAST IS REDEEMED. MY PRESENT MAKES SENSE. MY FUTURE IS SECURE. I’M DONE AND FINISHED WITH LOW-LIVING, SIGHT WALKING, SMALL PLANNING SMOOTH KNEES, COLOURLESS DREAMS, TAMED VISIONS, MUNDANE TALKING CHEAP LIVING AND DWARFED GOALS.

I NO LONGER NEED PREEMINENCE, PROSPERITY, POSITION, PROMOTIONS, PLAUDITS OR POPULARITY. I DON’T HAVE TO BE RIGHT, OR FIRST, OR TOPS, OR RECOGNIZED, OR PRAISED, OR REWARDED. I LIVE BY FAITH, LEAN ON HIS PRESENCE, WALK BY PATIENCE, LIFT BY PRAYER, AND LABOUR BY HOLY SPIRIT POWER.

MY FACE IS SET. MY GAIT IS FAST. MY GOAL IS HEAVEN. MY ROAD MY BE NARROW, MY WAY ROUGH, MY COMPANIONS FEW, BUT MY GUIDE IS RELIABLE AND MY MISSION IS CLEAR.

I WILL NOT BE BOUGHT, COMPROMISED, DETOURED, LURED AWAY, TURNED BACK, DELUDED OR DELAYED.

I WILL NOT FLINCH IN THE FACE OF SACRIFICE OR HESITATE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE ADVERSARY. I WILL NOT NEGOTIATE AT THE TABLE OF THE ENEMY, PONDER AT THE POOL OF POPULARITY OR MEANDER IN THE MAZE OF MEDIOCRITY.

I WON’T GIVE UP, SHUT UP OR LET UP UNTIL I HAVE STAYED UP, STORED UP, PRAYED UP, PAID UP AND PREACHED UP FOR THE CAUSE OF CHRIST.

I AM A DISCIPLE OF JESUS. I MUST GIVE UNTIL I DROP, PREACH UNTIL ALL KNOW AND WORK UNTIL HE COMES. AND WHEN HE DOES COME FOR HIS OWN, HE’LL HAVE NO PROBLEMS RECOGNIZING ME.

MY COLOURS WILL BE CLEAR.

Most of us are not called to another continent to serve - most of us will not be martyred for our faith - some of us may be criticized or ridiculed or face rejection. But at some point, all of us should be asking ourselves - “Am I all in?” It can’t be either or. Either we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength - or we don’t.